Pasadena City College
October 16, 2003
Entertainment:
Conversation
with R&B leg¬
ends
Sports:
Soccer tries to
get back to their
winning ways
Photo Essay:
Art Night
Pasadena lights
up PCC
W Building Lockers Looted Over Weekend
Roxanna Kurvink/Courier
workers and can be
Student belongings were recovered by police and facilities
claimed at the campus police office until Friday.
Student Service Fund OK'd
Aimee Ramos
Staff Writer
Campus organizations got in line
to receive a piece of the available
$397,980 available in the student
service fund. The amounts allocated
were finalized by the fund's board
of directors in a meeting last Friday.
MEChA and the music department
received the top allotments with
$25,000 each.
Those receiving money must pro¬
vide a direct benefit to students.
The transfer center and the forensics
program received funding along
with 68 other groups.
Student organizations eligible to
receive money generally fill one of
two purposes. They exist to pro¬
mote diversity on campus or support
academic programs. Clubs that focus
on diversity awareness are given
first priority.
"The money cannot be spent for
non-student purposes or individual
student scholarships," said Stephen
Johnson, assistant dean of student
affairs.
The student service money comes
from three sources: revenue from
food vending machines, food serv¬
ices across the campus and the book¬
store. Also adding to that balance is
any money left over from the prior
year.
Compared to last year's budget,
there is $14,631 less to distribute.
Expenses play a part in how much
money is available. For example, the
campus bookstore spent money on a
point of sale system that would aug¬
ment the inventory set-up and could
be compatible with online purchas¬
ing. The result of that investment
means less revenue for the fund.
The money available is enough
to cover approximately 40 percent
of the total amount requested.
With a difficult year on their hands,
Keenan Gosset, AS president and
member of the board feels that the
board approached the process in an
Aranjo Seeks to
John Martin For
efficient way and he is satisfied with
the decisions that were reached in
last week's meeting. "I think we
were really effective and fair in try¬
ing to find ways to keep things hap¬
pening on campus," said Gosset.
For campus clubs, the student
servite fund is not the only source
available. "The fund is not designed
to necessarily provide funding to
every club every term. The associate
students inter-club council is
designed for that," said Johnson.
Additionally, some monetary assis¬
tance is available from the flea mar¬
ket. Usually this is a back-up source
of money to provide for something
unexpected or to initiate a new pro¬
gram.
When deciding what amount is
allocated to each group, the board
considers what was done with the
money in the prior year.
The board wants to be sure
that the money will be put
to good use, since that
money won't See page
Unseat
Area 6
Rita Vega-Acevedo
Senior Staff Writer
Roland Aranjo arrives at Caldi's
coffee house and takes in the
aroma of French vanilla that fills
the air. Students in the bohemian
hangout glance at him, not
because he is running for the PCC
board of trustees, but because he is
the only customer wearing a tie.
The slim 42-year-old candidate
picks a table and chair by the win¬
dow. While a student nearby pon¬
ders whether or not to open a
textbook, Aranjo reads the PCC
accreditation report. Wearing
wire-rimmed glasses, he could pass
for a teacher, which he once was.
Aranjo is running against John
Martin for PCC trustee in Area 6.
This is no easy task considering
that Martin is the president of the
board, has been on the board for
24 years, and has only been
opposed once and that was in
1987.
Area 6 includes parts of Temple
City, Rosemead, El Monte and San
Gabriel. Voters will decide the win¬
ner of this contest on Nov. 4.
Ironically, most people in the
PCC district are more familiar with
their postal carrier than their area
trustee. Yet, their mail carrier does
not wield the power of an elected
trustee. The seven-member board
oversees a budget of $94 million,
1,500 employees and almost 29,000
students.
PCC is also the third largest com¬
munity college district in the
United States.
"I want to be a trustee because
it's a good opportunity to provide
new leadership on the board," said
Aranjo.
The Rosemead resident is com¬
fortable with challenges and politi¬
cians. He works for one.
Aranjo is the district director
for Assembly member Judy Chu. He
supervises six people in Chu's
Monterey Park office.
his job, he helps residents with
problems dealing with government
agencies, educational institutions
and economic development. He
also works with Chu to formulate
policy, draft legislation and sup¬
port education.
Before accepting a position
with Chu, Aranjo worked in the
department of economic develop¬
ment in the cities of Montebello
and later in Los Angeles.
He was employed in the hous¬
ing division and spent six years
with the community development
department in Los Angeles.
Aranjo speaks highly of
PCC and thinks it can be
even better. He wants the ” J
trustees to be more acces-
sible to stu- See page
Terrance Parker
Copy Editor
Thieves ransacked the men's and women's locker
rooms in the W building Saturday afternoon.
Someone cut the locks on over 140 lockers and pawed
through the contents. Items not plundered were
dumped on the floor in front of many of the lockers.
Facilities workers removed the remaining belong¬
ings from the opened lockers, placed them in bags,
and took them to the campus police station.
"We can't prove it was more than one person," said
Lt. Bradley Young, PCC college safety supervisor.
"Whoever did this meets a specific profile. The evi¬
dence points to the same guy in both locker rooms."
"Whoever did it was very methodical," said Dixie
Dubord, W building equipment manager. "They obvi¬
ously planned it."
"They were selective, at least in the women's lock¬
ers," Dubord added. "For example, they took the
water polo team's swimsuits, but left the entire set of
catcher's gear in one of the softball player's lockers."
Fortunately for the water polo team, most of them
had taken their competition suits home over the
weekend. "We lost a few of the practice suits," said
Terry Stoddard, water polo coach and swimming
instructor. "We have enough to be able to replace
them."
However, some of the students in Stoddard's classes
were affected. "They all were surprised when they
showed up on Monday," he said. "Several students
were unable to participate in their class because of it."
Stoddard explained that some of the students were
Nick Barral/Courier
Broken locks collected from W building
able to find their missing items at the police depart¬
ment. "Several of them just needed to make a report,"
he said. "Many of them got back to class the same
day."
The cross country team returned to PCC from a
meet at around 12:30 p.m. Saturday. "All of my ath¬
letes were affected by it," said Grace Apiafi, women's
cross country coach. "Whoever it was took things like
underwear and bathing suits. Only one locker was
safe. They tried to open her locker, but couldn't, so her
things were all right."
Sandi Iverson, women's softball coach, said
it was fortunate that her team had a game
Saturday. "They had their $ee pgge
Linda Rapka
Entertainment Editor
Giant smiling faces and swim¬
ming schools of fish brought the C
Building to life during Art Night
last Friday.
A surreal art display celebrated
PCC's first-time involvement in Art
Night, a citywide celebration of the
arts.
Staring at passers-by from along
the lower row of windows of the
building were the faces of 1 50 PCC
students, faculty and administra¬
tors. Colorful images of fish, sea
turtles and ocean bubbles glowed
in the upper row of smaller win¬
dows.
These videos projections illumi¬
nated large sheets of rice paper
hanging behind each window.
The display was the brainchild
of Alex Kritselis, dean of the visual
arts and media studies division.
"Buildings are very much about
function," he said. "With art, you
can alter the way you think about
how the building works."
By juxtaposing images of PCC
students and employees with
schools of fish, Kritselis presented
the concept that the building func¬
tions to bring people at the college
together to form a cohesive unit.
"It's a dimension you wouldn't
think about," he explained.
PCC proudly takes its place as
the newest addition to the city of
Pasadena's Art Night.
Since 1999, museums through¬
out the city have participated in
this bi-annual tradition and
opened their doors to the public
for free.
To coincide with Art Night, the
current campus gallery exhibit
hosted its opening reception.
SIGGRAPH's "N-Scape" displays
works created using the latest
technology by artists from around
the nation. This traveling exhibit
will run through Nov. 7.
The bronze horse "Red Pine,"
the latest addition to the Boone's
Sculpture Garden, was also show¬
cased for Art Night. A classical
band comprised of campus musi¬
cians played in the nearby Jameson
Ampitheater.
Two other bands performed in
front of the exhibits, adding to the
evening's ambiance. A jazz band
played in front of the art gallery
and a Mexican guitar band per¬
formed in front of the C Building
display.
College president James Kossler
beamed as he meandered through
the various art displays and lis¬
tened to the live bands.
"The fact that we put art and
music together is a wonderful
thing," he said.
Natalie Soto/Courier
Art night Pasadena: a Success
Student Government Gets Budget
Mitchell Wright
Editor-in-Chief
The Associated Students finally
approved its yearly budget on
Monday. The budget is $158,000
total. That is up nearly $30,000 from
last year by the help from the cam¬
pus bookstore.
Stephen Johnson, dean of stu¬
dent affairs, said, "$8,000 was rolled
over from last year's budget, but
most of this year's money comes
from the campus bookstore."
"Ending balances roll over from
last year to become the beginning
balance," said Johnson. "The book¬
store's profits vary dramatically from
year to year, so there is no set
amount to depend on. Last year's
board didn't have as much money as
this years and it's budget was down
$20,000 from what's typical. So it
didn't take much to show an
increase."
In addition, Arthur Choy, vice
president for business affairs,
agreed with Johnson. "A lot of the
V.P.'s were allocated a lot more
money this year," he said. "The
budget was cut into fair shares, so
more people are living a bit easier
than last year's board."
The largest amount added to an
account was Inter-club Council sup¬
port. It was given $45,500, an
increase of $12,225. The bulk of that
amount, $40,000, goes to club
grants.
Choy said at the meeting that all
$20,000 could be used for this fall
semester and the other half in the
Spring. But he said it was up to
Cynthia Gonzalez, vice president for
internal affairs, to use all of this
semester's money if needed.
Business support was given
$43,500, compared with $33,582 last
year.
Academic affairs received $13,250
this year, an increase of 10,250.
Campus activities got $137,750,
publicity received $5,000 and stu¬
dent services was allotted $1 1,000.
Cultural affairs remained the
same at $1 1,500, and external affairs
picked up $500 in a discretionary
sub-account.
The supreme council
received $1450, and the
student trustee account,
which is See page